Virus Protection

According to MessageLabs, by the end of November 2000, 155,528 e-mail viruses were detected by the company's virus scanners -- a number that represents one virus every three minutes. The chart below highlights the fact that viruses were extremely common in 2000 compared to 1999. MessageLabs calculates that during October, November and December 2000 (the heaviest virus months of the year) there were 64,382 more viruses than during the same three months in 1999.

Although May 2000 was the month of the infamous Love Bug virus, that month came in fourth, with 23,290 viruses against the three heaviest months. MessageLabs does however note that the Love Bug -- termed a 'worm' virus because it had a self-replicating quality -- was the most prolific virus in 2000, with 43,032 infected messages sent out in 2000.

JS/Kak-m, in the number two spot, was another worm virus that embedded itself into Microsoft Outlook and had the ability to shut down Windows on the first of every month. MessageLabs mentions that the W32/ProLin-mm, in seventh place, posed as a "great Shockwave Flash Movie" and replicated by opening the address book in Outlook Express, scanning all the available disk drives in the computer and infecting all ZIP, MP3 and JPEG files.

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